Rate this book

The Best American Poetry 2011 (2011)

by Kevin Young(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1439181497 (ISBN13: 9781439181492)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Scribner

review 1: Some powerful poems in this collection, along with several that made me wonder (along with some of my students) how these poets ever published a poem let alone got published in "The Best American Poetry." I realize editors' tastes differ from readers and that, even if one doesn't like a poem per se you can still find the craft in it, but there were a few that were so vapid and bizarre that neither the content nor the craft was engaging. Paul Muldoon, are you from outerspace? However, Sherman Alexie's "Valediction," Jennifer Grotz's "Poppies," Alan Feldman's "In November" and Patricia Smith's "Motown Crown" stood out as exceptional pieces, among others. For me, though, one of the greatest delights in this collection is a series of sonnets by a little-known (no published ... morebook!) older woman who just got her MFA at 60 and wrote what, to me, was the most powerfully personal and lyrical piece, "Thirteen Months" (by Mary Jo Thompson). Thank heavens the editors recognize that there are poets who are not renound (yet) and do not teach at some elite university or in a nationally recognized MFA program but who have created memorable pieces of art that deserve to be read. If only there were a few more....
review 2: . I enjoyed the prefaces and many of the poems in this collection—actually one of the best of this series that I have read. Poems I particularly admired include Coffee by Matthew Dickman, August Notebook: A Death by Robert Hass, Having Intended to Merely Pick on an Oil Company, the Poem Goes Awry by Bob Hicok, The Funeral Sermon by Andrew Hudgins, Narcissus by Major Jackson, Notebooks by Alison Joseph, Word by Jude Nutter, Pillow Talk by Jeni Olin, Motown Crown by Patricia Smith, The Afterlife by Mary Jo Salter, Elegy by Natasha Trethewy, Angels by Katha Politt and especially the 10-part tour de force The Side Project by Paul Muldoon. less

Download links for: The Best American Poetry 2011

Advertising